Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1994 - 57

.'v[osr respondenrs ha\'e more rhan one brand of personal compurer now in use in rheir organizarion and \\'ill acquire an
a\'erage of 1.3 brands in rhe furure, Table 4 conrains rhe disrriburion of personal com purer use by brands, The 1990 su[\'ey
showed rhar -4°0 of rhe respondenrs used IB\[ or IB,\,I comparible machines, The currenr su[\'e\' sho\\'s a somewhar lower
percenrage of -0°0 IB\[ or comparible use, The furure acquisirion figures conrinue ro show a decreasing rrend in [B\I and
comparible use and an increasing rrend in \[acinrosh use, The
high number of IB\[ comparibles in use as opposed ro acrual
IB\[ machines is probabh- because of rhe lo\\'er cosr of rhese
comparibles, Considering rhe cosr of a \[acinrosh (e\'en wirh
recenr price changes) relari\'e ro man\' [B\I comparibles, rhe
large proporrion of currenr and furure \[acinrosh users is significanr. \X/hen asked abour furure acquisirion, 66,8% (an
increase of almosr 12'\0 o\'er 1990) of currenr respondenrs
sho\\'ed rhar rhey would bu\' rhe \lacinrosh, as opposed ro
50.6% (down b\' 20%) for [B1\[ and comparibles, There was
also a significanr percenrage of Hewlerr Packard worksrarions
currenrly owned, followed by Amiga PCs up from 0 in 1990
ro 4,7% on rhe currenr survey, NeXT and Silicon Graphics
machines also showed an increase as furure purchases, (Ar rhe
rime of rhe surve\', l\eXT had nor \'er announced irs decision
ro srop producing hardware,)

24,2% plan ro acquire rhem (Table 5), Use of modems, highcapacir)' hard drives, digirizing rablers, CD-RO.'v1 dri\'es, large
monirors, and inpur devices like oprical scanners has increased
significanrly, and some, like CD-RO,Vl driYes, \\'ill allo\\' significanr furrher grO\\Th, \Ian\' users ha\'e also enrered rhe nerwork
arena wirh local area nem'orks and dedicared file se[\'ers,

Table 5, Cllrrent and Fllture Compllter Peripheral Use

Peripheral
Dot-matrix printers
Laser printers
Modems
Plotters
Hard disks (200MB+)
Scanners
Large monitors
Digitizing tablet
File servers
CORaM drives
Accelerators
Color printer
Audio/video digitizers
Other
Erasable optical disks

Current %
72,3
73.8
46.4
35.2
32,3
27.7
27.3
23,1
18.1
12.1
9.6
9.2
6.7
3,9
1,1

Future %
1.8
22.1
26.1
55,2
30,6
44,8
43.4
32.4
12,1
36,9
14,2
45,2
24.2
2.1
11.7

Table -I, Cllrrent and Futllre Personal Compllter Use by Brand

Brand
Apple Macintosh
IBM/compatibles
Hewlett Packard
Amiga
Other
Silicon Graphics
NeXT
Sun

Current %
57.4
70.8
6.1
4.7
2,5
.4
.4
.4

Future %
66,8
50,6
3,6
4.4
1.2
2.4
4
2

Use of compurer peripherals has also expanded, The 1990 survey sho\\'ed rhe dor-marrix prinrer as rhe major ourpur de\'ice,
The currenr survey shows 73.8% of respondenrs ha\'e laser
prinrers, up almosr 20%, The nexr large r ourpur device is rhe

This survey was conducted
to update information about current
computer use in the performing arts
production industry and to look
ahead to future possibilities as our
creative uses of technology grow.

plorrcr wirh
planning ro
rare of usc
Audio/vidco

35,-1°'0 of user~ currcnrh' u~ing rhem and 55,2%
hu\' rhem, Color prinrcrs currenrh' enjov a 9.2°0
hur -15.2°'0 of respondenrs plan ro bu\' rhem,
digirizers arc in usc In' 6,-° 0 of respondenrs and

In personal compurer applicarion , rhe mosr ofren reporred
uses on rhe currenr survey in order of percenrages, high ro
low, were adminisrrari\'e, public relarions/markering, lighring
design, educarion, producrion managemenr. box office, producrion rechnolog\', scenic design, sound design, and cosrume
design (Table 6). Anricipared applicarions on rhe 1990 su[\'ey
showed a desire ro increase producrion and design-relared use,
parricularh' in rhe scenic, cosrume, and sound areas, \\'hich
was amplv demonsrrared in rhe currenr su[\'e\' for scenic and
sound design bur which srill lags in rhe cosrume area.

Table 6. Cllrrellt and Flltllre Personal Compllter
Fllnctions

Peripheral
Administrative
PR/marketing
Lighting design
Education
Production management
Box-office
Production technology
Scenic design
Sound design
Other
Costume design

Current %
81.8
61.5
62.9
59.5
58.8
51.6
42.6
39.2
20.6
12
9.3

Future %
14.6
16.8
53.4
29.1
24.3
29.5
43.7
61,9
38,8

9
52.2

The mosr norable changes in rhe use of personal compurer
sofrware are rhe decreased o\\'nership of enrerrainmenrspecific
sofrware and rhe sharp rise in rhe currenr and furure planned
acquisirion of 20/30 CAD and 3D modeling sofm'are, The
currcnr use of enrerrainmenr-spccific applicarions is is less rhan
expccrcd from rhe 1990 SUJ'\'C\'; ho\\'c\'er, rhe desire ro bu\'
such sofrware in rhe furure sho\\'s a healrl1\' increase o\'er rhc
1990 sUJ'\'C\' (Table 7). This ma~' be due ro rhe fairh' recenr
proliferarion of such applicarions. The sharp rise in CAD and
modeling sofrware ma\' be due in parr ro rhc affordabilirv of
fasrer personal compurers rhar allow a rcasonable operarion
overhead in com purer rime,

T D &: T

I 9 'I 4

) P R I '.: G

55
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1994
